Wondering what Mommy Homework is???
Each week you will have an “assignment” here to share in our comments here on this site. You will love this-both sharing AND enjoying answers by others. Some of them, I compile into an ebook (contributors can resell as a product of their own–be sure to submit your email and full name when you register so I can credit you appropriately!).
The result is AWESOME! 🙂
We get to know each other…we are encouraged in our journey…and we glean super ideas from other great moms!
Ready for this week’s MH? This is going to be a really good one!
We have had a pretty eventful Winter. We had the most beautiful snow this winter. It has truly be one of the most gorgeous Winters that I remember. Of course, that has meant that at the same time I have been indoors A LOT. And, when I am indoors A LOT, it just seems that clutter builds up all around me. KWIM?
Call it a few days of sunshine. Or, call it March. Whatever it may be, I am on the clutter attack! Want to join me? Well, let’s begin together this week as we dig into our Mommy Homework. Deal? And, yes! Our topic for Mommy Homework is, ” Declutter!”
Is there something that you have found helps you to get rid of all of the clutter? Do you have a secret that has helped you manage all of the STUFF? This week, share your tips and ideas for how YOU attack the clutter bug. Share your ideas for what helps you to de-clutter.
I can’t wait to dig into these ideas. Just jump in and share today! OH! And, don’t forget to come back and enjoy all of the other mom-to-mom ideas!
Love ya!
Cindy
PS! Please remember to use your real name if you want credit for your Mommy Homework Credit. 
PPS! You CAN just share and not participate in Mommy Homework, BUT I would LOVE for you to get some goodies along the way!
PPSS! Want to check your credit? Here is the newest update: http://www.talk-a-latte.com/ebooks/MommyHomeworkCredits.pdf
PPPSS! If you are new, all you do to share your MH is first register (see the link on the bottom of the page–scroll all the way to the very bottom), then log in with your name and password that you select. Share away!
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Deadline–Friday at midnight CST.
I’m going to share a book that has changed the way I look at clutter. Up until now it was sooo hard to get rid of “things”. This book puts it all in perspective and she knows what you’re thinking and helps you through the getting rid of things process.
It really is too good not to share. It’s called Organized Simplicity.
I’ve read a lot of books on organization but this one tops them all.
Have a fabulous day.
Kim Wilson
Hi Cindy! My favorite decluttering tip is for ladies like me that worry they might regret getting an item or items out of their home. I’ve found it very helpful to take anything I’m not sure about and put it in a big box and put it in the garage with a label. If I haven’t needed anything out of it in several months then I feel good about giving it away or pitching it. That one thing has really helped take the pressure off of me, especially if I’m purging large quantities of still useful things but things we really don’t need anymore. (It also helps if it was something my husband might miss although I try very hard not to declutter his stuff for him!)
Blessings to you all!
De-Clutter
De-clutter that is what I have to do this year! With my health problems and not doing much for six to eight months, I really got behind in everything.
Ok, I know what you are to do, but the problem comes in that I do not follow what I know. So now that I am feeling better I am hitting the road running. I just hope I do not ware out first.
First I need a goal! Without a goal I find myself going in circles and getting nothing done.
I decided that I needed to de-clutter my spiritual life first or nothing else was really going to matter. Cindy and Lois had mention awhile ago about reading the Bible in 90 days. So I said to myself, “I am going to do that.” I didn’t want to ask how many chapters I would have to read because I thought in the back of my mind I might not be able to do it. How I figured it I do not know now, but came up with 20 chapters a day. So I started and did finish in 54 days. I amazed my self as I am a very slow reader but God just really blessed and whizzed me through His word. That was a real learning lesson to me to see His Word so compacted in a short time. I really enjoyed it and now it has given me courage to hit other things in my life. This also has put my prayer life and witnessing in order. Without de-cluttering here no other de-cluttering is really going to matter.
Next came the de-cluttering of my food and exercise. Watching what I eat and cutting all that stuff I do not need, but like. Now the exercise, that may kill me before I am done, but I have set a goal of weight to loose and I am aiming for it. Today I went from walking around a two acre area twice to six times. I didn’t think I was not going to make the last round but I did, again a big encouragement to me.
Now with all the above giving me strength, it’s time to do that de-cluttering in the house. Yuck! Ok, one room at a time. I aim to get rid of things that are not being used or needed. This is the hard part. I have a tendency to keep more then I need. If you haven’t used it in two years you most likely do not need it. I decided this year if it is not for a project that is going to be finished in one year it has to go now or in a year.
Pick any room you wish to start with, get some BIG trash bags and go to work.
One bag for trash, one for give away, one for lawn sale ( if you do that) and one if the items need to more to another room. I start with the sun room, that’s the hardest for me. My only problem with that room is that I clean it out this week and in two weeks it’s a mess again. This year I am determined to really clean out and keep it clean.
After one room is done move to the next, and on and on, until you finish the house. Then you can look back in satisfaction at what you have done.
You might want to take pictures of the room before you start and afterwards. You will be amazed and encouraged. You might want to get rid of extra furniture you really do not need, it will help make your rooms look better and larger.
Each night pick up clutter in the main rooms before going to bed if at all
possible. It is nice to get up in the morning to a house that is not a mess.
Now two more things, get a big, big glass of water (you will need it) and your Mp3 player with downloads of Cindy’s lessons. You will learn as you clean and the job will not seem so hard.
Spring is here in North Carolina, a great time to really get into that de-cluttering and end up with a new house and you didn’t even have to go buy one.
Just for added enjoyment my husband was even de-cluttering the yard today. He was trimming limbs from the trees. They are looking really nice, but now there is more clutter until the limbs get hauled away. 🙂
Nancy Lewis
I HATE Clutter! I am they type that I almost can not function if I see clutter. My hubby calls it perfectionism, I call it clean. But God is working on me…. .:)
We are a family of 5 (Blessed with 3 girls) and live in a 2 bedroom home. A TINY 2 bedroom home.
Daily it is a struggle to make sure everything has a home, and everything is in its home when we’re not using it.
We did get a small shed for lawn equipment and seasonal items, but it is already full with just those items, and I don’t want to squeeze anything else in there (Speaking of shed, I should probably organize it today)
Since we home educate. Most of our clutter is a result from books, completed school work, art projects, and games we play.
Book clutter is the most difficult to deal with, because we love books and are reading all the time.
Last summer I had a friend make me two custom floor to ceiling bookshelves. I slowly have been whittling down all of our books so that they will ALL fit on those shelves.
It is really hard to get rid of books because books are like old friends that you have taken a journey with. But I made a rule with my “big people” books that if it is in print, or a book I can get from the library, it goes. There are a few that are in print that kept because I read them often.
With kids books, I assigned 1 whole book shelf to kids books, and thinned out books so they will all fit on that.
The 2nd book shelf is assigned for our games, our current school books, and reference books.
We’ve been able to keep things pretty well organized if we stay on top of it, but it has been a struggle because we find new books we love and bring them home!
But I am going to be culling books again soon. I am getting an E-Reader for myself, and 1 for my daughter. There are a lot of the books I love that I can get inexpensively in E-book format. And a lot of my daughter’s literature books can be obtained for free from Gutenberg.org.
After the E-Readers arrive, I will be thinning out all the books that I can get in E-format, which will be a good amount. The children’s books we will keep in paper copies because we love bedtime stories.
Another bonus with E-Readers… I knit alot. And most of my patterns come in PDF format, or I can cut, paste, and print them to file in PDF format. And then I can load them onto my E-Reader. Cutting down more clutter, and freeing up a little space, because I can then get rid of all the paper copies of my knitting patterns.
An E-reader will also save space and cuts clutter when I am on the go. Now I can slip a light, thin, E-reader into my reading and knitting bag, instead of my knitting folder and my real books. I am a housewife and mom on the go alot and anything I can do to simplify what I take with me helps alot!
Declutter, yuck!!! When my son (now) got really sick 7 1/2 years ago my house really wasn’t bad but I didn’t have time to do everything I had been doing to keep the house going. A yr ago Cindy gave me the inspiration and challenge that I needed to get started!
Fifteen yrs ago we moved into our current home and my mother-in-law brought everything she didn’t want but didn’t “allow” us to throw it away to our home. Yep for fifteen yrs we kept it. BUT after Cindy’s inspiration and challenge we all talked about it and we began to attack our home. We gave his mom several weeks to decide if she would like to have it back or it was going. Over the past year we have purged our home of stuff that wasn’t really worth anything. Here’s what we do at our place.
* My husband and I agree that we will do this TOGETHER! – I don’t want to get rid of something that he wanted to keep so we do it together, it is “our stuff”.
* We feel better if we think it is still usable to give it to either the thrift store or put it out on Freecycle. This makes it easier to get rid of if someone else can use it.
* Set a time aside that you can work together and not be interrupted with the outside world.
* Invite company to your house!! 🙂 We were able to get motivated with the upstairs but the downstairs was so much harder until we invited company to our house and we need two spare rooms. This gave us a deadline of when it HAD to be done in. That didn’t leave us much choice to not do it.
* Don’t kick yourself if you don’t get rid of everything…you can do it again later and get rid of more.
* We open each box but if it doesn’t look like it is really important, we either put it in the dumpster, the thrift store pile, or in the freecycle pile. Some things are great to keep for memories and to pass on but some things are just “stuff”.
NO, we didn’t get all of the house done like we hoped to this past year but by the end of this year we plan to! Something I have learned to live by is taking each day, one step at a time. It didn’t get clutter in one day, so it probably won’t get decluttered in a day completely.
Believe me this hasn’t been easy for us because we love our “stuff”. But it is time for us to have our HOME back and be able to enjoy it ALL. As everything that there is in life, this is a continued process and the “work of decluttering” is NEVER totally finished. You can CLEAN a room but if you don’t keep after it over time it will build back up again.
Off to declutter some more! 🙂
Orilla Crider
First, I want to second Emily’s suggestion. That tip makes it so much easier to be ruthless when decluttering the rooms of older children or even the “toys” in the kitchen! For me, I add the step of making a note in my planner to remind me I’ve got a box or two tucked away and waiting to be donated. Otherwise, I might forget!
Second, I find that assigning areas to different months in my planner helps me remember to declutter them. For instance, I might assign the playroom to May and November. That way I declutter it at the end of the indoor winter season when I know what the children been playing with and right before Christmas so there will be room for any new Christmas toys and games as they come in.
Third, my trick for the flat surfaces that always want to gather bits and ends. I’ve found that if I can place baskets on those flat surfaces I can teach my family to put their things in the basket rather than just dumped on the surface (of, say, my desk or counter top). Also, if I find something laying about I can toss it in the nearest basket. Then at least once a week I can have someone in the family take the baskets and put the items where they belong.
My trick to de-cluttering is to break things down into workable bites. I try to make it easy for us all. I found that setting a timer to get chores done helps us so much to keep on track.
Also, since socks are one of our downfalls in our house, they never get mated, we have an unusual method of dealing with them. We only buy white socks and we keep them in a “sock box”. Everyone in our house, thankfully wears the same size now, so it makes it so much easier.
Keeping a trash can by key areas helps as well – by the front door for things brought in from the mailbox or car that are junk, by the desk, etc. And making sure that the trash cans get to the curb on time is paramount. Nothing like a couple of weeks to take to the curb because someone forgot it was trash day!
First – thanks for bringing back mommy homework Cindy!!
I also want to thank everyone for their thoughts. Due to my health problems, chronic migraines and dh’s major surgeries I also have gotten way behind and am overflowing with clutter – so this was perfect inspiration for me!
I have 4 quick tips (I started with 2 and keep adding!):
1. Find someone, preferably as Christian, who loves you unconditionally and you know won’t be judgmental toward, or gossip about your clutter/mess. It really helps to have someone give you a fresh perspective on your stuff!
2. Trust the Lord to take care of you! I too struggle with “what if I need this someday” mostly because due to our health problems we are severely financially strapped and don’t have the money for all our bills let alone any extras. However, doesn’t our beloved Savior tell us he will take care of us? Do we really believe Matthew 6:25-34 – or do our actions really say that we think God is lying to us in this passage?
3. This tip is especially for homeschoolers: when you buy printer paper buy it with holes already punched. This REALLY helps tame the paper monster. It is much easier to already have the holes punched and automatically put the papers in three ring binders – no excuse for any paper to be laying around! Also, I know binders can be expensive but get creative in getting them. When my dh’s office closed down they were going to throw away about 40, 3 ring binders – instead dh removed all the papers and shredded them (which had to be done anyway before they were tossed) and we got 40 free binders! I got another 10-15 when my dad retired.
4. Lastly – if you are like me, I have stuff I want to sell but I am struggling with getting everyday stuff done
and can’t find the time to list stuff on Ebay and then also find time mail it. I’ve had a file cabinet full of stuff (a lot of it homeschool books) to sell for a year! I finally decided to take it to an auction store – they do ebay as well as other sites. Yes I probably won’t make as much as if I did it myself, however, since the stuff has been collecting dust for a year, I haven’t been making any money at all!! As the saying goes “Time is Money”. I may make less money but I gain time for my precious family – and those moments make me richer than any monetary amount could!
Happy decluttering, and God Bless you all. Have a great week!
Sherri
Cindy Rushton Reply:
March 8th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
You are very welcome Sherri! I LOVE these posts. What super ideas! Keep sharing!
See, I wasn’t done yet!! One more tip!
Go to http://busyhomemaker.com/?page_id=256 and sign up for Stephanie Buckwalter’s Whole House program. She will give you FREE weekly e-mail coaching on how to get control of your house. Each month is a different area of your home to concentrate on. She is really great for us right brained ladies!
Okay, I’m done for real this time (I think!)
Sherri
Cindy Rushton Reply:
March 8th, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Stephanie is a great friend of mine. I LOVE her resources and her website. I want to shout out for Steph’s site as well!
And, Sherri, come back and share as often as you want! 🙂
Sherri Atwell Reply:
March 8th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Cindy,
I do believe that I found Stephanie thru you, so thank you so much! You are a wonderful online mentor and have brought so many other wonderful women into my life via the world wide web!
Hugs,
Sherri
Cindy Rushton Reply:
March 8th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Awww! I am so glad to! Sherri, that has been a prayer through the years. I have asked God for that! YEAH! And, the thing I love about it is that I KNOW Stephanie will come alongside of you and help you as much as she can. Thanks for sharing her with others. I know she will help–she helps ME! 🙂
Hi Cindy! I love the new look of your website! Beautiful, great new pictures of you too!
Oh, I am BAAAAD at decluttering (I love my books TOO, TOO much), but I do make sure I pare down my collection every once in a while.
Because I am a TOTAL bookworm, I need to go through my bookcases and ask myself the hard questions, “How likely is it REALLY that I am going to re-read this book? Do I REALLY need to keep it for my children in the future? Is it GREAT, or is it just so-so?” If it doesn’t live up to my standards then it has to go.
Of course, many books DO live up to my standards! I’m so thankful that DH just built me another little bookshelf the day before yesterday!
The BEST time to declutter though is when you are moving! Then you HAVE to go through EVERYTHING you own. This is a good time to decide if you REALLY want to box it up, move it, unbox it etc. or if it might just be better for it to hit the road! 🙂
Cindy Rushton Reply:
March 8th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Jennifer, thanks sooo much! I feel like this site is more like my HOME now. It was hard to change over, but things were a bit CLUNKY there for a while. Now, things are rearranged so I like them better.
Thanks also for the feedback on my pics. Trying to change them over and update them all over. Of course, I HAD to include my sweet GRAND-Joshua in the pics. He is AMAZING! 🙂
Have fun! Thanks for your super ideas!
The most motivating thing I have found to get me moving on de-cluttering is…sitting for an hour and watching an episode of hoarders. LOL! I had about 15 boxes of things to go through and after watching hoarders, I was able to toss six boxes of junk and give away three. The remaining boxes are things I need to file or store.
Oh clutter! How it grows!
My #1 attack on clutter is getting rid of my flat surfaces. A while ago the top of my washer and dryer looked like a mountain of toys, clothes, and anything else that didn’t have a real home. So, my husband bought me a gadget that stacks the dryer on top of the washer, so now I can’t reach the top of the dryer to clutter. Also, it makes the set look really nice, and expensive. We have a lot of counter space in the dinning room and kitchen, so it get’s cluttered daily. Now, part of cleaning up dinner is also cleaning off the counter.
My porch is the heart ache of my clutter problem. We always just dump our shoes off there before coming inside, and often it looks like a used shoe store instead of an inviting home enterance.
Anna Rozelski
I think the first step in de-cluttering begins in my mind. I have realized that a lot of what I hold on to is because I think I may need it “just in case”. While I am not saying that I’m going to get rid of everything, I think I need to first get clear with the Lord what He wants my home to be. Like Michelangelo who supposedly said that he released his sculptures from their marble limits, I hope that having a vision from the Lord will help me to then “release” things that keep my home from being what I think He wants it to be. So far, I believe that He wants our home to be a haven to my family and a place of welcome to others, as well as a place where my children can discover, learn and grow. This helps me to have an idea of what to get rid of–anything that does not contribute to that vision goes! It either goes in the trash, is donated to someone who can use it, or if worth something, sold. For me, this has helped me to let go of things that would otherwise just fill my house and keep it from becoming the home He wants it to be. This is a continual project and even a struggle at times, but this one thing has helped me the most.
Ultimately, for me, it boils down to trust. I need to trust that even if I get rid of things in my home, the Lord will take care of me. I don’t need to hold on to it. I need to believe that my God will supply what I need when I need it–and if I don’t need it now, I can share it with someone who can use it.
Vera Christian
Decluttering is my BIGGEST obstacle! But it is something I have been actively working on for several months. Finding a “system” that works – that is manageable – has been a journey for me, and I’ve read a few responses that include some of the things I’ve found to be helpful!
1. Daily. If I do not attack my clutter piles daily, it becomes overwhelming and my clutter multiplies rapidly. Even if I only touch ONE stack a day, it is an accomplishment, and it reduces clutter.
2. Weekly. I declutter some items into a “filing” stack, which is then filed appropriately once a week. If I don’t stay on this, again, I have more clutter – so filing bills and receipts away weekly is something I have to stay on top of regularly.
3. Storage. Like Emily, I’ve discovered that I can throw many things into a rubbermaid bin. These are items I’m not sure what I want to do with. I don’t think I should throw something away, but it isn’t something to file, so if I put it into the rubbermaid and go through it monthly or every other month – I discover that if I didn’t miss it, I can throw it away. If I did miss it, I can find an appropriate spot for it’s use, or store it.
These are my most useful decluttering tips. I also have my mom come into my kitchen (MY WORST CLUTTER AREA) about every season, and SHE helps me decide whether or not I really need something or I can get rid of it. It’s helpful to have another objective eye, and my mom is an organization queen, so I trust her to help me work through these things…
P.S. – I LOVE MOMMY HOMEWORK!!!
First, I just want to say, I am so glad to see Cindy back on-line!! I don’t know if somehow I’ve just been missing her or if she’s been just taking a break but I am so glad to have her back!!
My de-cluttering starts with my “Cindy-time”. I have put every podcast from her I can find on my MP3 and my daily cleaning becomes my “me&Cindy-time”. If I take the length of a podcast to put away things and scrub stuff, it makes it easier to keep things from becoming cluttered. I take this time at night after my children are in bed so I can work faster and I don’t miss anything on the podcast because of needing to tend to the kids.
I also do the twice a year, black trash bag routine. Once in the spring and then again in the fall. I can get my kids to help doing it those times of the year because they have summer birthdays. They don’t mind taking things to goodwill if they know their birthdays and Christmas are just right around the corner from our clean out weeks.
Not original or creative ideas, I know, but they work for me. 🙂
LOL Cindy why is it you always hit the nail on the head??
I thought I had decluttered when I moved from a very packed 970sqft. apt in July to a 1300 sqft. house on a 1/3 of an acre. Uhm yeah about that. I have a garage that they car will not fit into. There are boxes of books still packed because I got rid of bookcases (they were ready to fall apart.) and haven’t replaced them yet. I did get rid of 5 boxes of Homeschool books, and 3 boxes of other books. I forgot we still had boxes of books in storage. So 8 actually amounted to only 4 going away.
I started to set up the office, and well Hubby and I are at 6’s and 7’s about who gets to use it the most. I run an online tutoring service so I am in the office a lot and online a lot. Plus writing study guides and all I have a lot to do in here. I did take one very Rainy Florida after noon this winter and purged the filing cabinet, straightened the closet and 1 book case. Gave away a lot of workpages to the local co-op. and made packets to send to some of my younger students who need remedial work. So about 3 boxes left. Felt Great. I have been working on the files and things in my cabinets as well. The closets well I now have a rule 1time each month I go through each closet and straighten it. Same with cabinets. The Garage well it’s a work in progress, and I am now turning it into the home gym. Weights and Equipment are being put in and I have managed to organize the boxes that are there into each persons items. Son, neice, Hubby and hmm household.
Then I started on decluttering my life. For those of you who don’t know me I am a Type A – OCD type person. I am blunt and straight foreward. I don’t mean to hurt peoples feelings but sometimes I do it and don’t even realize it. That leads to a lot of stuff building up on me and in me. I am pretty brutal on my self, as well as others. I expect everyone to do what they are suppose to do, and when they don’t it annoys me. God gave me a wake up call. Yeah anyone who thinks they are flying under the radar with God needs to rethink that. My wake up call came in the form of the heart condition that I was born with suddenly rearing it’s ugly head. In order for me to focus on what was important and to be where I needed to be, I was going to have to let a lot of things go. Sadyly that included some people. (Not sure why they tthought I could fix everything, but when ever they had a problem or an issue. I was the one they called. ) I let them and a lot of Stuff go. Handed it all over to God and Wow the release of pressure and tension is incredible.
I am now taking each day One day at a time. What comes in that day is what I am dealing with. I spend at least an hour on my Favorite on-going project of the moment. That is turning my back yard into my oasis. It is going to have garden plots, a seating area, and all of the plants either are edible or bear fruit that is edible. Even the shrubs, and climbing vines. The best part of this project is It’s my personal prayer time. 😀
Took a 6 week sabatical from writing and am about ready to finish those study guides and send them off to the Publisher.
And the bonus on it all is I am decluttering my physical being as well. 😀 I am losing weight.
Blessings,
Lisa Robinson
Decluttering is relatively easy if one is motivated and has three baskets per room. garbage, move to different room, yard sale (or thrift shop). Do one room at a time. Block off time if you need to, and just get her done.
I”m not always so motivated to be quite frank, but when I do get motivated that’s the process that i use. 🙂
I toss before I think to hard on each item. I am very sentimental and would save nearly everything if I could.
So I really just toss quickly, and don’t go back through the items. I keep a box in the laundry room for clothes to be taken to charity, when it gets full I get rid of it. I keep a yearly To Do list, with a list of cleaning chores per room, and try to work through the list in a year, I don’t work in a particular order just whatever chore I feel like doing or have time for, or what needs the most attention.
~marni
I’m a pack rat by nature and I tend to hold on to “stuff” that I think I’ll need…one day. I’ve been working hard on breaking this habit and I’m starting to see some positive results. I’ve been donating more and more each month. Things we don’t need or use, I donate. Papers are a challenge as I know most homeschooling mom’s could agree with. I am still working on it but I am not feeling guilty when I toss some old school papers or papers I haven’t looked at or read in ages. It’s a work in progress but I really fell better when I de clutter.
I am working on de-cluttering my girls rooms because it is time for the spring consignment sale. Since 2 dear friends from church started the fall and spring consignment sales I have been better able to keep the toy clutter under control. The girls love to consign things that they no longer play with. They save the money for something new they would like. I just wish I could come up with a better way for them to control their paper clutter, they want to save every craft project. I tried a folder put that just did not work. I will be reading what everyone else says to see if I can get some ideas.
I grew up in a very cluttered, piling family. Once I was in my own home I went to the total opposite end. I am an organization nut.
I am not sure this is a tip but it has been a great help or me in getting rid of clutter and that is moving. In 12 years of marriage we have moved 9 times and many of them were long distance moves. I purge as I am packing and again as I am unpacking. It is liberating to get rid of stuff.
Have fun de-cluttering ladies!
Heather Wilson